Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

SEBASTIAN, ST

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 566 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

SEBASTIAN, ST , a See also:Christian See also:martyr whose festival is celebrated on the 2oth of See also:January. According to St See also:Ambrose (in See also:Psalm 118, oct. 20) Sebastian was a native of See also:Milan, went to See also:Rome at the height of See also:Diocletian's persecution, and there suffered martyr-dom. The Ada of St Sebastian, falsely attributed to the same St Ambrose, are far less sparing of details. They make him a See also:citizen of See also:Narbonne and See also:captain of the first See also:cohort under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian. Having secretly become a Christian, Sebastian was wont to encourage those of his brethren who in the See also:hour of trial seemed wavering in their profession. This was conspicuously the See also:case with the See also:brothers See also:Marcus and See also:Marcellinus. He made many converts, several of whom suffered martyrdom. Diocletian, having been informed of this conduct, sent for him and earnestly remonstrated with him, but, finding him inflexible, ordered him to be See also:bound to a stake and shot to See also:death. After the archers had See also:left him for dead, a devout woman, See also:Irene, came by See also:night to take his See also:body away for See also:burial, but, finding him still alive, carried him to her See also:house, where his wounds were dressed. No sooner had he wholly recovered than he hastened to confront the See also:emperor, reproaching him with his impiety; Diocletian ordered him to be instantly carried off and beaten to death with rods. The See also:sentence was forthwith executed, his body being thrown into the See also:cloaca, where, however, it was found by another pious matron, See also:Lucina, whom Sebastian visited in a See also:dream, directing her to See also:bury him ad Catacombas juxta vestigia apostolorum.

It was on this spot, on the See also:

Appian way, that was built the See also:basilica of St Sebastian, which was a popular See also:place of See also:pilgrimage in the See also:middle ages. The See also:translation of his See also:relics to See also:Soissons in 826 made that See also:town a new centre of his cult. St Sebastian is specially invoked against the See also:plague. As a See also:young and beautiful soldier, he is a favourite subject of sacred See also:art, being most generally represented undraped, and severely though not mortally wounded with arrows. See Acta Sanctorum, January, ii. 257-296; Bibliotheca hagiographica See also:Latina (See also:Brussels, 1899), n. 7543-7549; A. See also:Bell, Lives and Legends of the Evangelists, Apostles and other See also:early See also:Saints (See also:London, 1901), pp. 238-240. (H.

End of Article: SEBASTIAN, ST

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
SEBASTIAN 		[next]
SEBASTIANI, HORACE FRANCOIS BASTIEN, COUNT (1772–...

Site © 2006 - Net Industries